Today in Ukraine we are welcoming President of Turkey Recep Tayyip Erdogan who leads a representative delegation of heads of ministries and departments of Turkey.

Recently, the Fourth Session of the High Level Strategic Council has come to the end. It has been held in a friendly and efficient atmosphere of mutual understanding inherent to the Ukrainian-Turkish relations. Before that, we've been discussing all the issues of mutual concern for more than three hours in vis-a-vis format.

First of all, I would like to emphasize that Turkey is one of the main strategic partners for Ukraine. We highly appreciate Turkey's support of our sovereignty, territorial integrity and independence, non-recognition of Crimea's occupation and active cooperation with Ukraine in the international organizations. We are also grateful for the allocation of USD 10 million in the form of humanitarian aid for our state. I am grateful to President Erdogan for the decision to provide a credit in the amount of USD 50 million for Ukraine to cover the budget deficit.

The participants of today's session of the Strategic Council have discussed the entire complex of issues of bilateral agenda and interaction between Ukraine and Turkey in conditions of serious destabilization of the situation in the region because of the aggression of Russia against Ukraine. We have also elaborated a roadmap for the further development of strategic cooperation.

We have focused on the enhancement of practical component of the Ukrainian-Turkish cooperation by entering the large-scale high-tech projects. It goes about the development and production of regional passenger aircraft for Turkey's needs based on the latest technology of the State Enterprise "Antonov" and projects in aerospace sector. It also goes about joint projects in engine construction, cooperation in joint projects in military-technical sphere, as well as a number of other projects of common interest.

We have agreed to accelerate negotiations on the Free Trade Agreement and provided appropriate instructions for the ministers to submit the issues which has not been agreed upon yet for consideration by the Presidents shortly. We have also agreed to hold a meeting of the Intergovernmental Commission on Trade and Economic Cooperation in April .

I am grateful to President Erdogan for a comprehensive attraction of Turkish investments in Ukraine. The evidence of that is the signature on the check for investments in Ukraine in the amount of more than UAH 3 billion by the company Turkcell and its receiving of the license number one for 3G mobile communication. Today, it is a good indication of transparency and efficiency of competitions that are taking place in Ukraine.

One of the key issues discussed in the course of the Strategic Council's session was cooperation in energy sphere. In this regard, we have expressed interest in implementing the international gas transportation projects, including the supply of natural gas from the Caspian shelf and the countries of Central Asia, in exchanging experience in the construction of underground gas storage and the conditions of gas storage in the Ukrainian underground gas storage facilities. We have also discussed the possibility of participation of Ukrainian companies in the construction of the pipeline TANAP. I have drawn the attention of the President of Turkey to the risks of building the "Turkish Stream" and to the additional opportunities of reverse gas supply from Europe.

Special attention was paid to the Crimean issue. We are particularly grateful to Turkey for its indifference to the problems of citizens of Ukraine - Crimean Tatars, who have already been under pressure of Russia in the occupied Crimea for a year. We have agreed to continue implementing joint actions both bilaterally and multilaterally to support and protect the rights of the Crimean Tatar people.

We have openly discussed the security situation in our region, where the strategic balance and the atmosphere of trust have been destroyed by the Russian aggression against Ukraine. I would like to thank Mr. President separately for supporting Ukraine's efforts to invite the UN peacekeeping mission for de-escalation of the situation in eastern Ukraine.

Concluding my speech, I would like to emphasize common aspirations of Ukraine and Turkey on mutually beneficial cooperation in all areas, determination to contribute to peace and stability in the region and support each other in important and acute issues of the international agenda.

I am grateful to Mr. President for his readiness for more intensive contacts at the highest level. We have agreed that at least once a month we will have phone conversations or meetings.

Thank you!